5 star and 1 star frags, your list

Without changing any ratings, go to your wardrobe and find your 5 star and 1 star frags that you've tried (you need not own them) and list them here. FYI for those who don't know, if you click the word "Rating" above the rating column, it will sort them for you.

Feel free to add a short comment after each to further elucidate your thoughts. This is all just in fun! Don't get offended if one of your favorites gets trashed. Further, on a more utilitarian level I think this thread will help us locate people with similar tastes to our own.

Here are mine:

1 star scents
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Black by Kenneth Cole
Don't mind Black.. he's just got a few personalities. And he's a bit OCD.. he likes to be reaaally clean. Death by soap.

2 by Comme des Garcons
drowning in ink in a bath full of magnolia petals, while choking on a stick of chalk

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

Elite by Floris
Smells like a urinal that hasn't been cleaned in years

Fierce by A&F
I don't know what the notes are, but the synthetic-ness makes it gross

Hugo by Hugo Boss
It's a sickly sweet and cloying frag

Oyedo by Diptyque
It's way too sweet, almost like candyfloss mixed with detergent.

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5 star scents:

En Passant by Frederic Malle
A beautiful and gentle scent. Going to buy a FB soon!

Vetiver Oriental by Serge Lutens
Such a great vetiver scent. Probably my favourite vetiver frag out of the ones I've tried (which includes Guerlain's and Vetiver Extraordinaire)
Chergui by Serge Lutens
A really good oriental, but isn't too heavy for daytime wear.

Tea For Two by L'Artisan
Perfect winter scent IMO, slightly smoky with a sweet drydown.

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

Before I'd give ratings like this I'd specify whether things like cost and how common the frag is are to be taken into account. Remember how LT reviewed Polo Double Black in the Guide book? He obviously took commonness into account.

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

Originally Posted by jenson

how dare you give AToH and GV on one star!! and NR 5?! Blasphemy! *churns out dozens of threads based on this*

Hey! Good catch there! Truth is I have never tested Green Valley, but once it is (accidentally) rated, you cannot take it out of your "tested" list. I have been interested on sampling it because the name brings back sweet memories.

In my book, to make it to the 1 star list, a fragrance has to either
a) Make me sick. (D&G pH)
b) Take itself too seriously and not worth the trouble in the end. (Amouage Arcus)
c) Remind me of something unpleasant (Aromatics Elixir (1971) Clinique)

Kilian AToH belongs to category b. Waaaaay too expensive for a lavender scent, and it is not even that good . StH makes me sick. Nothing wrong with the scent, I am pretty sure it is good, but I hate nutmeg (which is only enhanced by the patchouli). Kilian could also improve the name of his scents: he makes them sound like sequels to self help books.

A taste of Heaven, Straight to heaven. Prelude to love, love, beyound love.

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

Five Stars:

Ambre 114 : excellent amber the spice and herbs cut down on the sweetness of the amber and make this a very wearable scent in all seasons.
Blue Amber : Rich, warm and comforting.
Jubilation XXV : something about this just makes me smile, excellent and well made scent.
L'Ombre Fauve : a slightly dirty musk over a base of soft and warm amber.
Muscs Koublaï Khän : musk, musk, and more musk. lasts forever and dries down into an almost perfect skin scent.
Nasomatto Absinthe : an easy to wear scent that is very versatile.
Red Vetyver : spicy vetiver, whats not to like about this scent
Vetiver Oriental : deep, complex vetiver that just exudes class.

One Star:

Fahrenheit : just couldn't get past the gasoline/motor oil smell... and the drydown isn't much more appealing
Vierges & Toreros : industrial grade nose killer that should come with a mandatory MSDS. People need to be warned....

Last edited by surreality; 11th December 2008 at 04:19 AM.

Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them. - Immanuel Kant

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

I was wondering about BdP as a 1 star. I know not everyone loves it..I've only tried it twice..but I've never seen it categorized so low. I'm assuming it made him sick..lol

LOL. Good call I actually missed that he gave BdP 1*. I think BdP is a complex, sophisticated, and well made scent. BdP is a personal guilty pleasure of mine. What do you specifically dislike about BdP?

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

I was wondering about BdP as a 1 star. I know not everyone loves it..I've only tried it twice..but I've never seen it categorized so low. I'm assuming it made him sick..lol

LOL. Good call I actually missed that he gave BdP *. I think BdP is a complex, sophisticated, and well made scent. BdP is a personal guilty pleasure of mine. I know Irish is not a Creed hater bc he has a few Creeds listed as ***** scents. Irish, what do you specifically dislike about BdP?

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

About BdP:
1. it gives headaches.
2. It is not good in my opinion.
I tried so many times to see the complexity of the scent but i could not. I also tried to reach that golden mean between spraying enough to smell it, and not too much so that I start have a reaction against it, and I could not find it either.
Guerlain Heritage, on the other hand, is not that overpowering, it's so much more complex in both, its evolution and notes, and it costs 1/3 the price of bdp.

Fleur du male, a synthetic mess of horrible evilness? nah, just playfully naughty and mischievous It starts with a sharp, somewhat pungent opening which settles down after a couple of min. It feels like a narcissistic and confident scent to me; it smells like white flowers but with a raw masculine power. Contrary to many, i do not find it sweet or powdery, at least not in a sissy kind of way. My girlfriend loves the combination of fake neroli and vanilla flower while I love the robust presence of the night blooming jasmine, which I actually find very natural.
So, does it have the mellow feel of traditional perfumery? no, but we should not expect that from FdM. It would be like trying to fit baroque standards of musicianship on Queen.

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

Fleur du male, a synthetic mess of horrible evilness? nah, just playfully naughty and mischievous It starts with a sharp, somewhat pungent opening which settles down after a couple of min. It feels like a narcissistic and confident scent to me; it smells like white flowers but with a raw masculine power. Contrary to many, i do not find it sweet or powdery, at least not in a sissy kind of way. My girlfriend loves the combination of fake neroli and vanilla flower while I love the robust presence of the night blooming jasmine, which I actually find very natural.
So, does it have the mellow feel of traditional perfumery? no, but we should not expect that from FdM. It would be like trying to fit baroque standards of musicianship on Queen.

Looking at your list Irish I disagree on a lot. But one thin I 100% agree:
CK Eternity is 1*

Is see a lot of sweet/vanilla fragrances on the 1* and masculin/gentleman fragances with 5*. That makes it funny that you put FdM up there with the 5* (I couldn't disagree more on this one I 'll take Lolita Lempicka, D&G pour homme or A*Men any day before Fdm and I would give those 3*)

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

Originally Posted by irish

Fleur du male, a synthetic mess of horrible evilness? nah, just playfully naughty and mischievous It starts with a sharp, somewhat pungent opening which settles down after a couple of min. It feels like a narcissistic and confident scent to me; it smells like white flowers but with a raw masculine power. Contrary to many, i do not find it sweet or powdery, at least not in a sissy kind of way. My girlfriend loves the combination of fake neroli and vanilla flower while I love the robust presence of the night blooming jasmine, which I actually find very natural.
So, does it have the mellow feel of traditional perfumery? no, but we should not expect that from FdM. It would be like trying to fit baroque standards of musicianship on Queen.

i'm totally with you on Fleur Du Male! it satisfies my pervertish olfactory need of orange blossom and jasmine in the most erotic way. matter of fact when it home i overdose on one sample of it.

and the Attorney, it's Irish for god's sake, not LT! cud we spare him? and btw, lets have your list?

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

1 star:
pretty much like Irish said: either they make me sick (Guerlain Vetiver), they smell like a chemical waste dump (CSP Vetiver), they are 100% banal or compeltely misconstructed - or I just plain hate the smell, though I might respect the fragrance

Re: 5 star and 1 star frags, your list

That makes it funny that you put FdM up there with the 5* (I couldn't disagree more on this one I 'll take Lolita Lempicka, D&G pour homme or A*Men any day before Fdm and I would give those 3*)

Those 3 you chose give me a terrible headache. The one thing I do not like about LL is not the vanilla, but the anise note. Anise and nutmeg are the two notes I dislike the most. The funny thing is that, even though I hate anise everywhere else, I love it in Rive Gauche, one of my top 3 fragrances. Go figure.

Exactly! I am a fragrance lover, not an anal critic. hmmmm... let me rephrase that: I am a perfume enthusiast, not a retentive critic of fragrances (I am not saying that LT is a retentive critic either). I am sure people consider Kilian fragrances to be of the utmost quality, while they may think Givenchy PH is liquid trash. That is cool, they are probably right, but I do not care .
I realize I did not justify my decision of why I gave 5 Stars to NR. The truth is that I do not really know why I like it. In any case, my review will probably not convince anyone that it is good, nor do I intend to do that. When I smell a fragrance (and I believe most people will do this) I make a gut decision of whether I like it or not. Then I come up with whatever rationalization will satisfy my egocentric intellect better.

Aesthetics, like many other philosophical endeavors, have a more irrational foundation than what we would like to think.